President Biden used the IDF’s accidental killing of the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza to demand that Israel capitulate to Hamas. That’s my translation of the White House readout of Biden’s April 4 phone call with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I posted the crucial excerpt here last week.
I also noted that Secretary of State Blinken added a twist in his April 4 press conference. He declared that Israel risks becoming indistinguishable from Hamas — not that there’s anything wrong with that for you Hamas supporters out there.
Martha MacCallum seemed to think this was a tad much coming from Biden and Blinken. Hosting Biden NSC spokesman John Kirby on Fox News Channel’s The Story, MacCallum homed in on the anomalous quality of the critique of Israel coming from the authors of the Kabul drone strike that killed Zemari Ahmadi, an Afghan aid worker, and nine members of his family, including seven children. Just to round out the picture, it should be noted that Ahmadi was employed by Nutrition and Education International, a U.S.-based humanitarian organization. (I have posted the video below; John quoted the exchange here yesterday.)
By contrast with Biden and his brain trust, Israel immediately acknowledged it had made a mistake and vowed to investigate. Having done so, it announced the results and took action:
The IDF said the strikes were “a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures.”
In response, the Chief of the General Staff dismissed two officers: The brigade fire support commander (an officer with the rank of major), and the brigade chief of staff (an officer with the rank of colonel in reserve).
The IDF also reprimanded others: the brigade commander and 162nd Division commander.
The Chief of Staff also formally reprimanded the commander of the Southern Command for his overall responsibility in the incident.
I’m quoting from CNN’s story on these developments. CNN adds: “Israel’s swift public explanation and admission of guilt is rare, as is for such senior officers to be punished” — especially by contrast with its critics in the Biden administration and the senior officers responsible for the Kabul strike.
John Kirby speaks for the Biden administration. He had a difficult time answering the question posed by MacCallum about the difference between the two mistaken drone strikes. Kirby groped to find an answer in a clumsy philosophic style — that was then, this is now; that was in another place, another time; a hole was rent in the space time continuum. Even without Kirby’s unusually inartful performance — what could he say? — we should be able to infer that something else is happening here.
Q: What's the difference between the U.S. strike, which killed innocent Afghans in 2021, and Israel's strike that killed aid workers this week — when both were in the middle of conflict?
JOHN KIRBY: "These are two different events!"pic.twitter.com/YBLwO762lc
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 5, 2024
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